I don't like The Indestructible Man

Lon Chaney plays a killer who is killed at the stat and then brought back from the dead by a mad scientist. He dispatches the scientist and then heads off on a trail of revenge as an unstoppable killing machine- the resurrection process making him unkillable.

Similar in many ways to MAN MADE MONSTER about an man super charged with electricity, made a decade or so earlier this film has many fans who love its insanity. To them it is a good bad film and some would even argue it it a classic with no sarcasm whats so ever. They have argued that this is a misunderstood film and much better than its reputation.

I on the other hand really dislike the film. Its not so much that we've been here before, more that there is way too much BS there are all sorts of sub plots that fill the run time with endless talking. I don't care. I never did  and despite arguments that the dialog serves a purpose I don't see it- I ust want Chaney going out and killing and being hunted. I mean they got it right in MAN MADE MONSTER and they didn't need a voice over to fill in the blanks.

Frankly this is a long painful hour and I can't recommend it.

Made in Hong Kong Opens 11/27 via Metrograph Ticketed Screenings

Fruit Chan’s first film burst upon the film scene in 1997 and heralded the arrival of a major filmmaker. While he had been working in the Hong Kong industry for years, (the film was shot on film stock he collected along the way) this was his first feature film at the helm. In the year of the hand over it rocked cages and made people sit up and notice Hong Kong culture. It was so well received it ended up as Hong Kong’s entry for the Oscar (though it didn’t get a nomination).

The film follows Autumn Moon a smart young man who acts as a collector for the local gangs. He acts as the protector for the large mentally handicapped Sylvester who is the target of scorn when ever Moon is not around. Moon meets and falls for Ping, the daughter of a woman he is told to collect a debt from. Things begin to go from bad to worse when Sylvester picks up two letters from the body of a young girl who committed suicide by jumping from a tenement rooftop.

At times, rough and jagged , yet always full of life MADE IN HONG KONG is a glorious slice of life. Very much of the time and place in which it was made it is a love letter to all of the people who we really never see in Hong Kong Movies. When the film came out in 1997 there didn’t seem to be any films that really showed what life was life in the tenements where most people lived. I know my knowledge, as far as cinema was concerned, was simply genre films. Anything approaching dramas was hard to come by, even in the back allies of NYC’s Chinatown. That the film traveled across the world and back again in the 23 years since it was made is an indication at how it opened the eyes of people across to the globe who saw for the first time that there was more to the city than gangsters, monsters and martial arts masters.

Watching the film for the first time in a decade or so in order to write up this piece I was kind of kind of taken aback. While the film is very much the work of first time director, at times there is a bit too much going on as if Fruit Chan wasn’t sure he was going to get another shot, the film is also incredibly assured and deeply resonant. Yes the film is set in 1997, and yes it has flourish from the films back then, but the exploration of life, friendship and love still is relevant today as it was back 23 years ago. To be certain Hong Kong itself has changed, especially in the last two years as the Mainland went to war with the city, but the sense of life remains the same. That the film still stands up is a clear indication as to why Fruit Chan is one of the great directors to come out of Hong Kong.

Recommended. MADE IN HONG KONG is being released for the first time theatrically in the US from Metrograph Films in the recent 4K restoration that was done in honor of the films 20th anniversary. It begins a run in NYC’;s Metrograph Virtual Cinema Friday.

Thanksgiving Turkeys: CURSE OF BIGFOOT, DARK TIDE, ISLAND MONSTER and FLYING SAUCERS OVER ISTANBUL

Curse of Bigfoot
Absolutely awful "bigfoot" film is really a short film about a revived mummy that wanders the wilderness around an archaeological dig. The film sat un released for years until some noticed that the beast could be a bigfoot and it was released during the Bigfoot flap of the late 1970's. What an absolute horror.

Dark Tide
Halle Berry shark drama is wildly over long (its almost 2 hours) and possesses a score that is completely wrong for a thriller about diving in shark infested waters…and sitting here trying to write the film up I realize I have completely forgotten what the film is about or what I thought. Take that as an indication that you shouldn’t bother.

Island Monster
Island Monster is a badly dubbed Italian crime film with Boris Karloff as the villain. If it wasn’t for Karloff I doubt this good but nothing special film would even be circulating much. The film has a police officer investigating a drug smuggling ring which is actually being run by seemingly nice Karloff. It’s the usual nonsense. The trouble with the film is the dubbing is really bad. It’s bad enough that it gets in the way of the enjoyment of the film. While I know many on the internet have completely trashed the film I have seen enough films badly dubbed to know that its probably not that bad in the original Italian- especially since we don’t know what was changed in the dialog. That said this is for Karloff fans only

Flying Saucers Over Istanbul
Dreadful Turkish film looks like an attempt to mold a Huntz HAll Leo Gorcey film with night club acts with the result is a boring mess where everything goes on too long

SAUL & RUBY'S HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR BAND (2020) hits streaming and VOD Tuesday

 SAUL & RUBY'S HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR BAND is a life affirming film. It is the story of two Holocaust survivors who decide to put a band together to celebrate just being alive.  Their hope is to one day go to Poland and play in memory of the 6+ million Jews who were killed in the concentration camps.

If you think you are having a bad time you need to meet Saul and Ruby. Sure bad things happen but at the same time  they keep going because they have to. Watching the film I found that I smiled a great deal and I cried just a little bit.  Watching the film I wanted to find the guys and just give them a big hug.

The film is the story of the men and their lives. We watch as the band is formed, and play some dates. We also get to see them over the course of their lives as things happen.  And then they go to Poland and play  their music, and visit the ghosts they left behind. It is a story that will move you. It moved me.

I also like that the film that is  rooted both in the now and the past ends with a warning- anti-Semitism is on the rise and there is a deeply moving statement that we must let history repeat.

This is a gem of a film and is highly recommended.

Other Side of Madness (1971) hits home video

THE OTHER SIDE OF MADNESS is a creepy film. Its a dark and moody film that leaves, rightly, a bad taste in your mouth. In its way it maybe one of the best films on the Manson murders you will see.

That THE OTHER SIDE OF MADNESS is a one of a kind film is due to a lot of different factors. First and foremost is the fact that the film was shot during the trial of Manson and his cohorts. The script was altered as new facts came out. It is also the only one that was actually shot at the Spahn ranch, which burned down right after the film was finished.

The other reason that the film is unique, and why it works, is that not only hadn't director Frank Howard made a feature before, but also that he was allowed to make the film any way he wanted as long as he stayed in budget. The result is a film that looks and feels unlike anything out there. It feels like a low budget independent film at times, at others, like the murders it feels like a documentary and at other times it's experimental. 

The film doesn't move in a conventional manner.Much of the film is in flashbacks from the trial. Dialog is kept to a minimum. There is voice over of people's thoughts.

I wasn't certain what I thought at the start. It felt off for a little bit. And then I fell into it. It challenged me to work with it, it challenged me to consider what I was seeing.  I love that it didn't do anything in any sort of expected way. 

I suspect that the film's refusal to be conventional is why the film is only a 5 out of 10 on IMDB. I think everyone was expecting a typical exploitation thriller so the audience who would love it never found it and the exploitation crowd was confused by it.

Thankfully the film hits home video n November 24.The Bluray and DVDs  put out by a The Film Detective is really cool. Containing a commentary track, some killer short docs and a solid book. Its a wonderful combination of information on the film that puts the film into context. There is also a special edition that comes with a  bonus CD of music from the film and Charles Manson. (I have it  but I'm kind of unnerved at the thought of listening to it.)

If you want to see a small forgotten gem trackdown THE OTHER SIDE OF MADNESS

In brief: Collective (2019) DOC NYC 2020

 One of the current expected Oscar contenders COLLECTIVE concerns the aftermath of the the Collectiv night club fire in Romania. Not only were there no fire exits in the building to get people out. 27 people died that night and 180 were injured. The hospital burn wards being filled. In the weeks that followed another 37 people died in hospital. However they didn't die from their wounds but the infections they got from being in the hospital. The newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor began poking around and they discovered a healthcare system so corrupt it brought down the national government.

Belt in boys and girls this is  one hell of a ride. I paused the film 20 minutes in to Tweet that with over an hour and a half to go the film had reached the point where most other films would end. That's a statement that tells you just how bad things were/are and how much digging had to be done. This is a story that keeps going and going to the very end. I just stared at the screen slack jawed. 

As has been pointed out this is a story of not only a broken system but of entrenched corruption. We hear stories of kickbacks, bribes, cronyism and all sorts of malfeasance that will make your head spin. It is a dire warning to everyone everywhere of what happens when government officials get too close to the private sector as the maker of hospital supplies paid off hospital officials to make sure they used their tainted products. Its a chilling account that mirrors some of what the Trump administration has been trying to do during its term in office. 

I was and still am horrified. I should discuss it more but even with reading reviews on the film I was nt prepared for what I saw. See it for yourself and be punched in gut.

An absolute must see.

COLLECTIVE is currently playing on various VOD platforms after finishing it's festival run

DOC NYC Capsule Reviews LESSONS OF LOVE and SUMMERWAR

 LESSONS OF LOVE
Jola leaves her husband of 45 years and returns to Poland. There she goes about  reestablishing her life and beginning a relationship with a man who is not like her husband. 

A good look at a late life change gives us all hope that maybe we all can find love. How much you love the film will be determined by how you react to Jola who comes off as stern.. I kind of liked her since she reminded me of one of grandmothers who was very similar.

Worth a look.

SUMMERWAR
Scary look at how kids in Ukraine are being indoctrinated into right wing nationalist thinking when they are sent away to a summer camp run by a right wing organization that is helping to fight the Russian incursion into the country.

A good look at how political thought is being spread to the next generation. While it would be nice to think this couldn't happen in the US, it probably could,and probably is with the rise of radical right in the age of Donald Trump. A warning for our times.

The Viewing Booth (2020) DOC NYC 2020

Filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz  asks Maia, an American student (and others) with ties or interest in Israel to look at short film clips of life in the West Bank and discuss them. He is looking to see how people form their opinions  and/or change them.

An interesting experiment didn't rally work for me. While I was interested in the reactions and discussions for a while I found that at a certain point I disengaged and ceased to care. Perhaps its the presentation which is largely  just Maia's face as she watches the videos (Which we see)

While I know this is an important subject, I'm just not certain the execution makes it an important film.

THE SWERVE (2018) is out on VOD

I'm kind of shocked that Dean Kapsalis' film THE SWERVE played a number of  horror film festivals. Not because the film isn't horrific, it is, rather it is rooted in the horror of everyday life, with the monster being the beasts that are other human beings.

The film charts the downward slide of wife and mother Holly.She is profoundly unhappy. Her kids see her as a driver and maid. She suspects  her husband maybe having an affair. Despite her best efforts she slowly begins breaking apart, even throwing herself into an affair with one of her students. But it is all for naught and the slide down the razor blade can not be stopped.

I'm late coming to the game with THE SWERVE. It has been kicking around for over a year now. Despite it playing several festivas I was covering I never felt a connection. It came out on VOD in September and I passed on it because I couldn't see skipping something I was more invested in. I let the film slide. Then suddenly a couple weeks ago the performance of  Azura Skye as Holly was mentioned by several friends as an Oscar dark horse that could actually win.Then last week in the middle of a discussion with Liz Whittemore about DOC NYC she stopped talking about documentaries to drop an impassioned bomb that I absolutely had to see THE SWERVE before going back to talking abut whatever films we were talking about. Intrigued I contacted the PR people concerning the film and asked for a screener.

While I have problems with the screenplay, some of the turns such as Holly's annoying children, are a tad too one note, there is nothing wrong with Azura Skye's performance and I completely understand why she is in the Oscar mix. Real and raw her performance is like watching an exposed nerve in a tooth scream when something touches it. It is a performance throbbing with pain and suffering. It is so painful to watch that there will be several points where you are going to want to turn the film off just because you don't want to see her bleeding all over the place. You  may almost feel that if she was wounded animal you'd kill her just to free her. Sadly that isn't possible and the wounds keep accumulating.

How good is Skye? I think she has a real shot at getting an Oscar nomination and perhaps the statue. If this was any other year I would be less certain but because many f the high profile films have been moved a small performance like this that outshines the overhyped work of bigger stars has a shot at being recognized.

While watching the film is kind of like taking repeated punches to the face, but with all the bruising raiding up on your soul, I still highly recommend THE SWERVE for anyone wanting to see a great performance by a great actress.

DOC NYC Capsule reviews: ON THE RECORD, FOR THE LOVE OF RUTLAND, and THE LAST OUT

ON THE RECORD
HBO's stunning look at misogyny and sexual harassment and rape in the music business and particular surrounding the Russell Simmons case is playing at DOC NYC and if you've not seen ,it you should. It's a film that is going to make you really think about the subject.

FOR THE LOVE OF RUTLAND

A look at Rutland Vermont. A town that is trying to get itself off life support, Focusing on a young mother named Stacie who is fighting opioid addiction anthe Mayor who agrees to have the town take in 100 Syrian refugees. A good look at small town desperate to come back to life. It has it's own charms but also seems to cover familiar ground. I'm also curious where things are tday since the events chronicled are from 3 and 4 years ago. 

THE LAST OUT

A very good look at a couple of Cuban baseball players who leave Cuba and go to Costa Rica in order to establish residency so that they can have a shot at going to the US and play major league baseball. As a baseball fan this was one of my must sees at DOC NYC. I really enjoyed the film a great deal since it gave me an idea of how s many great players had to journey to come play here.

Brief word on The Pack on Amazon

 

The series THE PACK which is now on Amazon Prime is best described as The Amazing Race but with pet owners and their dogs. Twelve pairs of owners and dogs are divided into two teams and then travel around the world to solve various puzzles.

How you react to the show is going to be based on how you like shows like The Amazing Race and how much you love dogs and their owners who gush over them. 

I'm keeping this piece short because I'm not a huge fan of similar shows and my patience for the owners wore thin very fast, which means this series was never intended for me. That said if the idea of a dogs and their owners traveling the world to do challenges sounds good to you then by all means watch this series because my curmudgeonly feelings aside it isn't a bad show

DOC NYC Capsules: WELCOME TO CHECHNYA, IN MY OWN TIME A PORTRAIT OF KAREN DALTON and OIL WAR

WELCOME TO CHECHNYA
Excellent hopeful and heartbreaking story about the struggle to get members of the LGBT out of Chechnya before they can be tortured and killed. Its a stunning film, one of the most emotional that HBO has ever produced. Its a stunner and if you've never seen it you must.

IN MY OWN TIME A PORTRAIT OF KAREN DALTON
A look at folk singer Karen Dalton, whose voice was similar to Billy Holiday. Dalton influenced a number of singers like Nick Cave, despite only putting out a couple of albums and disappearing after her second one failed.

I kind of liked this film but I kind of didn't. Part of the problem is her voice didn't click with me, though I loved her lyrics. The problem is I don't know if there is enough here to support a feature since some of this feels as though it's been stretched.

I could have passed, your mileage may vary

OIL WAR
Good but  not great look at Andrew Bacevich's take that the US involvement is not a series of wars or interventions but simply one long continuous war.

This is a very good look at the real way things are (it really is one war) that fills in a lot of details for anyone who isn't familiar with the all the events really do tie together. While I like the film a great deal, I find that the premise is not as "shocking" as the filmmakers would have us believe since anyone who is familiar with the work or people like Adam Curtis or who has been paying attention to the long games being played by the US government and some corporations, knows its true.

Recommended

CHAIN NYC ANNOUNCES EIGHTH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL DEC. 3RD – DEC. 13TH 2020

 NEW YORK, NY; November 18, 2020: The Chain NYC Film Festival is thrilled to announce the eighth annual festival of over 150 selections of features, shorts and web series, both narrative and documentary, to screen virtually over the course of 10 days. The Chain NYC Film Festival makes a special effort to curate each block of films by theme or genre. The collective voice of filmmakers from around the world rings out whether in escapist entertainment or heavier themes of the ‘new normal’ in a Covid society, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the celebration of Jewish Voices. In an effort to continue to highlight these important issues, the Chain will continue their tradition of hosting talk backs with the filmmakers which will be included in the screening blocks.

Tickets are $11 for each screening block and can be purchased online through www.chainfilmfestival.com 

The Chain is proud to showcase Academy Award nominee José Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries), director and fan favorite Danny Woodburn (Seinfeld), and Adrienne Lovette (Better Call Saul). 

Quarantine Short Film Block, a group of films created during the shutdown.

In Want of A Mask, the supply of face masks cannot meet the demand in Hong Kong. 

Lockdown Living, dating, hyjinx, and mysteries unfold all on video conference. 

Love/Sick, a privileged couple are at odds in their relationship.

Black Voices

The Inconvenience of Being Black, A young motorist faces the challenge of a routine traffic stop. 

Sideline Stories, How the voices of athletes are impacting the Black Lives Matter Movement across the globe. 

To Be Us, To Work, A Documentary Feature that holds up a mirror to the treatment of black people in the workplace.

Jewish Voices

The Last Cyclist, a filmed theatrical presentation of a play originally performed in a Nazi concentration camp. 

The One and Only Jewish Miss America, a documentary about Bess Myerson, Miss America 1945.

Wrong Rhythm, Following tragic news, a new mother puts aside emotion to celebrate her sister’s wedding.

https://watch.eventive.org/chainfilmfest2020/play/5fa6366a7d23530cea930eff/

The 2020 Chain NYC Film Festival will be viewable via Eventive—the premier platform for online festivals. Viewers may purchase tickets online and screen on any computer, laptop, mobile device or their own television with the use of Apple TV or a Roku. 

Awards will be given out in a number of categories including a NY Filmmaker Award, dedicated to filmmakers living in one of the five boroughs of NYC, the Audience Favorite Award, where viewers may vote for their favorite online, and the Filmmakers Choice, where filmmakers vote for each other in the festival. This year’s festival is sponsored by Blue Point Brewery. 

About the Chain NYC Film Festival 

Chain NYC Film Festival has screened over 1000 films in the past seven years. Past festival participants such as Lady in Apartment No. 6 have gone on to win Academy Awards. “Personal stories. Original ideas. New work.” The Chain NYC Film Festival is a multi- disciplinary event that serves the NYC community by bringing quality independent film from around the world. Content accepted is work that comes from a personal experience, a new outlook or idea in the world of film, and has been produced within the past two years. Chain regularly invites an award-winning giant in the film industry to come and speak about their work. Past guests include Richard LaGravenese (The Fisher King, Behind the Candelabra) and Richard Price (The Color of Money, The Wire). @chainfilmfest 

THE DISSIDENT (2020) DOC NYC 2020

This look at the murder of Saudi journalist  Jamal Khashoggi will buckle your knees. While firmly focused on the murder of Khashoggi it spins its net farther afield and paints a chilling portrait of a government racing to unchecked oppression and madness on a grand scale.

THE DISSIDENT wants us to know that things are not well in Saudi Arabia. Things may look bright and wonderful but the men controlling the country have slipped into making it a paranoid dictatorship. Anyone who does not tow the party line is hauled away and murdered. They do not want any free thought and they use intimidation and an army of tech savvy people to try and control the thoughts of the masses. Troubled by the turn of events long time insider  Jamal Khashoggi left the country, even to the point of divorcing the wife he adored, and moving to the US, in order to be able to speak his mind. Khashoggi did just that but the Royal Family wanted him muzzled and when an opportunity to kill kim arose they took it, never expecting it to blow up in their face.

While the murder is the thread that binds the whole film together the film also shows us the cost of the Saudi madness. Paralleling the Khashoggi story is the one of Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi national who fled the country when his Twitter posts criticizing the Saudi's put him on a list of people to be detained. While he fled to Canada the Saudis still want him dead. They have detained and tortured his brothers in the hope of silencing him and the Saudis have sent hit squads to try and silence him. Its a scary tale that gets scarier when its revealed that they are bugging/hacking the cellphones of anyone and everyone they see as a threat or of interest (like Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, who realized something was up when the crown prince was sending him texts about things he had never discussed with him)

This film rocked my world on so many levels I am having a hard time processing it all. Coming at a time when I was all movied and especially documentaried out, THE DISSIDENT  made me sit up and take notice. I didn't do anything during the whole time it was on, not even taking notes. I had to see it right them and there. The only thing I did while watching it was to replay some sections because I had to see them again after I picked my jaw up off the floor.

What makes this film so great is that this is more than just the story of a murder, but it is a story of the cost of that murder, we see the toll it takes on Khashoggi's fiance, Hatice and his friends and acquaintances.  Additionally the film is a stark warning of the madness that some governments may seek to embrace. As someone says about the Saudi government, the people respected the government until they started to crack down on the opposition in an unjustified manner.  It shows how social media is being used to try and win the hearts and minds of the masses. It makes you wonder where will this all lead?

This is a truly great film. Its a stunning timely and important film that speaks volumes about a great many things. 

Highly recommended.

Brief thoughts on Words Can't Go There (2020) hits VOD tomorrow

This is a portrait of John Kaizan Neptune who discovered the shakuhachi, the traditional Japanese bamboo flute and traveled to Japan to learn it despite not really being able to speak Japanese. It was the beginning of a lifelong journey that would take him across the globe.

I didn't intend to watch this film, I was in the middle of DOC NYC and it's crush of 200 films and the last thing I needed was yet another documentary.  For some unexplained reason I agreed to take a look and as a result I saw a sweet little film. Told from Neptune's son's POV the film is a lovely portrait of a father by a son. It's the the wonderful journey of a son trying to learn about his dad. As some one who was close to his dad before his passing this film really hit home at times.

Of course there is more to the film than the father and son relationship. There is the wonderful music.  Listening to Neptune make music alone and with others is really cool. I just smiled from ear to ear

GENERATION 328 (2020) DOC NYC

 

A look at mothers in Belarus whose children have been locked away under the countries draconian antidrug laws- the section of the code is 328.

Bracing portrait of what one mother calls the last dictatorship in Europe. The film is heartbreaking look at mothers who are fighting to just see their kids, as well as keep them safe (we watch one mother call the person to check on her son who is in solitary confinement).

I was moved. Recommended

I would be curious to see more on the subject and Belarus itself.

DOC NYC Capsules EL FATHER PLAYS HIMSELF and PARIS CALLIGRAMS

EL FATHER PLAYS HIMSELF
Filmmaker Mo Scarpelli made a film a film about his father and his wild life and had his father play the lead. The result is a film that mixes reality and fiction blurring the lines  between both.

An interesting idea that works best in bits and pieces. Personally I’m not sure we need the blend of truth and make believe. and I would have just gone for a straight documentary

PARIS CALLIGRAMS
Filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger makes a film about coming her coming to Paris and what happened along the way.

Mixing up clips from films, new footage, diary entries, interview footage and other material  this is a cinematic examination of a life that mirrors the way we pull our own lives and memories together. It’s a meal of a film that has a lot to chew on. At the same time the up and down and very literary nature of the film wears one down making the films 135 minute run time feel longer than it is.

An art film of the truest sense. 

Bird Island (2020) Art of the Real 2020

 

Bird Island is not a film for everyone/ Essentially a narrative about the strange goings on at a bird sanctuary in Switzerland it is performed by people at a bird sanctuary. It is quiet and contemplative as the damaged people take care of damaged birds and get them ready for release back into the world.

Quiet and gentle, the film doesn’t explain much outside of the care of the birds. We get hints of avaian trouble beyond the sanctuary and with in the lives of the keepers but nothing is spelled out. Much of the sound we hear are simply the sound of the birds . Yes there is some dialog and a voice over but this is in many ways more like a mediation. That means this is either going to excite you to no end or put you to sleep.

Personally I was kind of torn. I loved what I was seeing I was into the obtuse nature of some of it, but the slow quiet nature of the film had me nodding off. I just drifted off and stared like one of the birds who forgot their past life.

If that sounds great to you go for it. All others are probably best looking elsewhere

DOC NYC CAPSULES: IN SILICO and STRAY

 IN SILICO
Very good look at Director Noah Hutton spent ten years following the work of Henry Markram. MArkram is trying to make a computer model of the human brain do that it can be manipulated for a better understanding of how we work.

How you react to this film will depend upon how interested in the technical challenges of recreating the brain. While its all explained so that it' simple to follow, there was a point at which I kind of checked out. As good as it was I realized this was not something I needed t know this much about. Don't get me wrong what's here is great,  but just outside my field of interest.

STRAY
While the film is being sold as a portrait of the dog Seytin and the other strays in Istanbul Turkey, the film is also a portrait of the street people he and the other dogs interact with on a daily basis. 

If you ever wanted to know what it was like to be a dog this film is for you. This is a dog's eye view of the world and it is an eye opening experience. I am a dog lover and much of this hit my sweet spot. If there is any complaint, it's the minor one in that the camera gets too close to the dogs and the images become overwhelming. Still it's a minor complaint and if you love dogs this film is for you.

DOC NYC SHORTS: PARKLIFE, WHAT'S IN CHINATOWN, HER NEW YORK, TILL NEXT TRIP and VISELTEAR VIOLINS

 

PARKLIFE
An observational look at life in COlumbus Park in New York's Chinatown where residents of the area hang out and socialize. It's a wonderful slice of life that puts you in the middle of it all.

WHAT'S IN CHINATOWN
Lovely portrait of New York's Chinatown which reveals what it was like in a pre-pandemic summer's day.

HER NEW YORK
Jill Gill remembers the history of New York in stories and paintings of the buildings that were to be destroyed.

TILL NEXT TRIP
Portrait of the filmmaker's father, a NYC bus driver, in the age of Covid. A lovely tribute of a father by a son.

VISELTEAR VIOLINS
A look at violin maker Jason Viseltear. Interesting look as a man who fell into his life's work